This is just a rehash piece about the apparent financial disappointment of Ghostbusters. I’m posting because I’m not much of a numbers-cruncher and maybe there’s something I’ve missed…who knows? Paul Feig‘s film opened on 7.15 or 25 days ago. Right now Boxoffice Mojo has the tallies as follows: $118,099,659 domestic, $62,800,000 foreign for a total of $180,899,659.  It’s nearly dead but let’s be generous and say it’ll end up with $200 million total.

On 7.29 a TGG article by Kenay Peterson titled “Paul Feig´s Ghostbusters 2016 flops really hard at the box office” was posted. Peterson quoted an assessment by a reader that seemed valid to him. It seems valid to me also but it would help if other estimates and opinions could be shared.

The basic assessment is that Ghostbusters needs to make between $375 and $400 million worldwide to break even. If it doesn’t get any higher than $200 million it will lose around $200 million, making it “one of the biggest flops since Johnny Depp‘s The Lone Ranger.” Does this sound about right?

Quoting from the article: Production costs are said to have been $144 million. Marketing/advertising/distribution was roughly $150 million, bringing the final cost to around $300 million. A film doesn’t get all the box office receipts. The take is usually between 1/2 and 2/3 of the domestic. If a film makes $200 million, the company actually takes in somewhere between $100 million and $135 million depending on the length of its run, etc.

“So to break even Ghostbusters needs to make back the $290 million they have put into it (production + marketing + distribution). Under the high end 2/3 box office ratio, that means it would need to hit $435 million worldwide to break even. Under the 1/2 box office ration, it would need to make $580 million to recoup costs. The middle figure for the 1/2 to 2/3 is just north of $500 million. Sony will obviously get some money from merchandising and DVD sales — a legitimate estimate for that would be around $100 million. Which would put the necessary break-even point at $400 million:

“Production+marketing+advertising+distribution = $290 million
To break even box office under the 1/2 – 2/3 rule = roughly $500 million
Minus the profits from merchandising/DVD sales = around $100 million
Worldwide boxoffice break-even = around $400 million”

Again, these are not my calculations. They sound fairly sensible but I don’t really have the right kind of keenly calculating mind for this stuff.

As noted, right now Ghostbusters is at $180 million worldwide. It’s currently sitting in 28th place among the films now playing, and is therefore nearly done.